The Birthday Party Bifurcation
by Analyn d'Ettore
Summary: When Sheldon has to make a decision to go to Aunt Flora's birthday party, a couple of disturbing daydreams help him figure out what is important. Set during the Weekend Vortex.


Summary: When Sheldon has to make a decision to go to Aunt Flora's birthday party, a couple of disturbing daydreams help him figure out what is important. Set during the Weekend Vortex.

Disclaimer: TBBT does not belong to me.

* * *

All it took to enslave Dr Sheldon Cooper was a formidable hotsy-totsy from Glendale. Or that was the man's opinion as he tried yet another store in search of a birthday gift for a 93 year old woman he had never met and whose birthday party he did not want to attend. However, by his own document and the procedures his girlfriend, Amy Farrah Fowler, laid out, he was obligated to attend with her. If only the old geezer could be easier to shop for. It was bad enough he had to give up his weekend playing _Star Wars_ the online game with the guys; he had to buy a gift as well.

Stuart, his last resort, also had nothing for the old gal. His friends took part in one of their favorite past times: mocking him. Glumly, he rifled through the comic books looking for one he did not already own. His alcoholic excuse for a father was right: women were crazy. When his jealousy provoked him to ask Amy Farrah Fowler to be his girlfriend, he never thought it would result in her forcing him to do something against his will. How wrong he was.

* * *

Somehow, he was on a stage with bright lights glaring down at him. While Sheldon was unable to account for the change in venue as he knew himself to be at the comic book store, he also felt disconnected from all worry. Everything was alright. His memory appeared to be failing him but that didn't seem to matter.

He heard talking coming from the female at the podium. He listened in on her words just enough to hear her say his name.

Applause followed from the audience, but the blinding lights made it impossible for him to discern whether there were ten or a thousand people in the room. Without knowing why, he felt his body standing up and his feet propelling themselves across the stage even though his mind did not give them his consent.

He replaced the woman at the podium and adjusted the microphone for his height.

"Thank you," he said into the microphone, his voice amplified through the room. "And thank you for the introduction," he said to the unnamed woman.

"I dreamed of being up on this stage ever since I was four years old. I believe back then my acceptance speech would have gone a little like this."

It was not his mind talking and he had no idea what was going on but the words were flowing out of him without his control.

"Neener neener my brain is better than yours." The audience laughed and politely applauded. He smiled. "No matter how much I might still think that, I wouldn't be up on this stage if it wasn't for a very important person. Amy, where are you?" he asked.

Sheldon peered out through the bright lights shining down on him. A woman in the second row stood up and there she was. Amy.

Again, he continued speaking without conscious thought.

"Ladies and gentleman, my wife. If she looks like she's glowing to you, that's because we are going to have our first child ." Sheldon paused for another round of applause, looking out at the audience and glad the lights distorted his ability to see so he could not make out individual faces.

Once the applause died down, Sheldon resumed speaking. "I always thought the key to being a successful physicist was ignoring my emotions. The truth is, it was Amy who beat me over the head with a book when I was being stupid that got me to this point up on the stage. Turns out, my work improved once she forced me to confront my emotions."

There was more applause but Sheldon talked straight through it.

"I could elaborate on my work that put me on this stage, but most of you already know about it. Instead I would like to thank my wife, mother, and meemaw, the three women in my life who have been patient and encouraging, and without whom I would never have had the honor of standing before you all tonight.

"I can safely say the future of physics is different because of my theory . . ."

Sheldon continued in his recitation of the speech that was foreign to him. Amy was his wife. He won the Nobel Prize. He remembered very little of what he spoke of, both from his personal life and his scientific pursuits, and yet despite the disturbing lapse in his memory he had the sense that everything was as it was supposed to be. He finished his speech and sat back down and then he listened to the other winners give their speeches. The ceremony seemed to go by far more quickly than the time frame laid out in the program and by the time it ended it was late at night.

Amy found Sheldon when the ceremony concluded and he was free to leave. "That was a beautiful speech. Thank you, Sheldon."

He was certain she had tears in her eyes, though what cause she had to cry he could not tell. Women were a strange creatures sometimes.

Amy leaned up to kiss him on the lips, and though he should have felt mad at the unsolicited public display of affection and grossed out by the germs that were transferred between the two of them via skin-to-skin contact, he did not feel that familiar feeling of ghost bugs crawling over him. He did not mind her kiss. In fact, he liked it.

"You're welcome, Amy," Sheldon said.

Amy played with his lapels and once again he allowed the contact to continue. His lack of control over his body was frustrating and something over which he would panic if he did not enjoy the actions so much.

"I was thinking we should stay in Stockholm a few days extra. This might be the last vacation we get before the little one is born."

Sheldon's hand drifted to feel her stomach. There was no visible bump and while it felt a bit harder than he would have thought, he could not feel a bump either. She must still be early on in the pregnancy.

"Without plans or reservations? Amy!" Sheldon exclaimed, appropriately baffled by the vixen in front of him.

She kissed him again which had the effect of quelling his anxiety. He would have to set that aside for further analysis.

"Don't be silly. I've already taken care of it."

The woman knew him well and anticipated his concerns, giving him no reason to refuse her. Not that he would have anyhow.

"You're a vixen, Mrs Dr Cooper," Sheldon said. The term of endearment was clearly a longstanding joke between the couple because Amy laughed and settled against his side. "We can stay a little longer, but not too long."

"And why can't we stay too long, Mr Dr Cooper?" Amy cheekily asked.

"Because if we stay too long we won't have anything to do the next time we come here," he said as if coming back to Stockholm was fact.

Sheldon should have been disoriented, and he was, but the way he relaxed around Amy made it hard to care, and his euphoria over winning the Nobel Prize made it impossible.

"There's going to be a next time?" Amy asked.

This time it was Sheldon, or rather Sheldon's body, who kissed her.

"Of course there is. Next time you will be on that stage."

Amy smiled against his lips and pulled back. There was no guarantee, of course, but Amy was brilliant and her work was exceptional. If anyone deserved to be on that stage, other than him of course, it was her.

"I love you, Sheldon. You'll never know how grateful I am you decided to stop ignoring me and focus on us."

"I love you too." No. That was wrong. He didn't love her. His body spoke without his consent. Amy was his girlfriend for less than a year. It was not possible to fall in love with her in less than a year. That he cared about her he would not deny and that he was jealous when other men showed attention to her was obvious. But love. That was a step too far. "And as I said in my speech, it was only because you beat me over the head with a book."

Amy playfully slapped his arm. It stung a bit but it did not really hurt. "I did no such thing and you know it."

"You did something to me, vixen. My brain worked a lot better before you came into my life. You ruined me," Sheldon accused. He was not serious. Strange. Sheldon did not ever remembering mastering the art of sarcasm or flirting yet that was clearly what he was doing.

"I'm sorry, Sheldon. Would you like a reset?" Her question was rhetorical and they both already knew the answer. No, he would not go back to an earlier version of his life for anything. More of his brain may be filled with thoughts of Amy and he might be distracted by her presence but that his life was better with her in it was undeniable. That very night in Stockholm was evidence enough.

"Never," Sheldon said, "Now let's go back to our room so I can give you the second half of my speech."

"There's more?" Amy asked, "Why didn't you finish your speech? I thought it was still beautiful, but you really shouldn't leave things unfinished."

"I won't," Sheldon promised. Looking at his watch, he quickly calculated the amount of time they would have. "The rest of my speech is for you alone. I am going to show you my appreciation, and by my estimate, we have eight hours forty-three minutes."

Innuendos. Coitus. That was not him. He did not even understand those comments most of the time and yet there he was.

"Sheldon," Amy said breathlessly. He wanted to kiss her yet for once his lack of control over his body did not want to satisfy him.

"Eight hours forty-two minutes. Now hurry up," Sheldon said. Amy followed right behind him.

* * *

Leonard, Howard, and Raj were all staring at him.

"Something wrong?" Leonard asked.

"No," Sheldon said quickly. Nothing was wrong. He stood in the comic book store and the oddest thought came over him. It was almost like a daydream, but it was a strange daydream. Oftentimes his daydreams involved work or comic books or _Star Trek_. This one featured none of his common fantasies.

Except for winning the Nobel Prize, but that fantasy was a given. Amy was his wife and she was pregnant. He managed to give a speech without feeling terrified and he even had the crowd alternatively laughing and applauding, and oftentimes both. It should have felt wrong and weird yet it did not. In his daydream, as that was the most appropriate word for it, he liked kissing Amy, something they never did before except for the time she kissed him while drunk, but that did not count as she did not remember it. He made suggestive comments worthy of Howard, he flirted, and Amy flirted back. Touch, or at least her touch, did not repel him as it should have.

However, that did not solve his dilemma about what he should get for Amy's Aunt Flora's birthday. Recalling the time he got bath items for Penny, he picked up a bottle of lotion. Old ladies used lotion. It was a better gift than Excalibur at least.

Although he would much rather stay home with the guys and play _Star Wars_ the online game, he instead made his way down to Amy's car. He would have less fun fulfilling his obligation, and yet something from his daydream compelled him to go. It was a small portion but he could not get it out of his head: Amy was glad when he stopped ignoring her.

He did not ignore her. In fact, he was very much aware of her. However, he gave off the impression of ignoring her as it allowed him to be more productive with his work. Amy and even himself, judging by the Nobel Prize acceptance speech out-of-body Sheldon gave, disagreed. A couple of hours would be a little sacrifice for the peace of mind it could bring him.

Not wanting to be left out of game night completely, however, Sheldon still brought his laptop and headphones down to the car.

Before he could tell her of his brilliant plan to play _Star Wars_ the online game on his laptop at the birthday party, thus allowing him to fulfill his obligation to Amy and spend the time more enjoyably engaged, he felt a tightening in his stomach. Something was wrong.

o-o

"Sheldon, buddy, are you alright?" Leonard asked.

Sheldon looked around his and Leonard's apartment. Everything was exactly as it should be yet no matter how hard he tried to find something out of place he failed; yet he knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

He was sitting in Amy's car yet he had no recollection of how he got back to the apartment though clearly he was there.

"I'm fine, Leonard," Sheldon said.

Leonard sat down on the chair and looked at him. "You sure? You don't look alright."

He fidgeted nervously in his seat. "I said I'm fine. I just don't want to go to Amy's Aunt Flora's birthday party."

Leonard looked at him quizzically. "I don't think you're invited," he said.

Sheldon snorted in derision and rolled his eyes. "Not invited. Not invited do you hear yourself, Leonard. Amy is forcing me to go."

"No, she really isn't. She probably doesn't want you to go at all," Leonard said.

For all Leonard looked like his best friend and roommate, Sheldon had a hard time seeing the resemblance at the moment, apart from their exactly identical looks. Yes. Something was really wrong.

"Don't be absurd. Amy is forcing me to go." He did not know how many more times he could repeat himself before Leonard believed him.

Penny waltzed into the apartment uninvited, a common occurrence he did not think twice about.

"What's up," she asked.

"Sheldon's in denial again," Leonard said.

For whatever reason, those words caused Penny to sit uncomfortably close to him on the couch. She did not hug him but it looked like she wanted to. He was grateful she resisted her base urge for physical affection.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Penny said sympathetically, "But you can't keep pretending anymore. It isn't healthy."

"I'm not pretending. Amy is forcing me to go to her Aunt Flora's birthday party." Evidently he had to repeat himself at least once more.

Leonard and Penny exchanged a look though he was not adept at reading it.

"Amy hasn't wanted you anywhere near her family since the divorce," Penny said.

"Divorce?" Sheldon asked. Who was divorced? "What divorce? Why are you talking about a divorce?"

Leonard and Penny exchanged another look. It reminded Sheldon of the way his parents used to communicate without speaking. That was when they were not yelling at each other, of course, and using very unchristian words Jesus would not approve of.

"Sheldon, pretending the divorce never happened is crazy," Penny said.

"I'm not crazy. My mother had me tested," Sheldon automatically protested.

Penny shrugged her shoulders in acceptance.

"Fine, buddy, you're not crazy," Leonard said, "but your insistence on believing nothing happened is."

"I know what happened. Amy is forcing me to go to her Aunt Flora's birthday party."

It really was not a hard concept to grasp. Penny and Leonard were both being particularly obtuse, something he expected especially from Penny but Leonard as well. Even so, they were taking their newfound inability to comprehend basic English a little too far.

"No, buddy, she isn't," Leonard said. "Amy divorced you."

The feeling of something being wrong only minutes before was now multiplied by a tenfold. Something was very, very wrong.

"Amy and I are not divorced," Sheldon said. To be divorced they would have to be married first. He and Amy never married. Ergo, they could not be divorced. The logic was plain and simple, even a young child of average intelligence could follow it.

"Sheldon, sweetie, I know you still love Amy," Penny said, laying a hand on Sheldon's shoulder. He shrugged it off, not wanting to deal with Penny's touch. "But you've been divorced for two years. It's time to accept that and move on."

Sheldon stood up abruptly. No matter what he did Leonard and Penny moved as if pulled by strings to the tune of a puppet master who was set on tormenting him.

"No. You don't understand." His fists clenched at his sides and his shoulder's hunched over with nervous energy. "Amy and I aren't divorced. Amy and I aren't married. Amy is my girlfriend and she is forcing me to go to her Aunt Flora's wedding."

"I think a part of you believes that," Leonard says, "but think about it buddy. You know Penny and I are right."

"No you aren't," Sheldon protested. Unable to stay in the room with the two of them any longer, and confused by all the information. There was no way to reconcile what Penny and Leonard were telling him with his memories. He had an eidetic memory, after all, and was always right. Penny and Leonard had to be wrong. He would find Amy and put their crazy nonsense to bed.

He took the bus to her apartment and made his way to her door. _Knock knock knock._ "Amy." _Knock knock knock._ "Amy." _Knock knock knock._ "Amy."

The door to 314 opened right away to reveal the face of an exasperated Amy.

"What part of stay away from me don't you understand, Sheldon?" she asked by way of greeting.

"Leonard and Penny think I'm crazy but I'm not crazy. They're crazy." He pushed past her into the room though it was obvious from her posture at the door she wanted nothing more than to slam the door in his face.

"And I'm beginning to think I should get a restraining order," Amy muttered under her breath but still loud enough for Sheldon to hear.

Louder, she said, "What do you want?"

"I want you to tell Leonard and Penny that you're forcing me to go to your Aunt Flora's birthday party," Sheldon said. Amy would see the sense in his request and abide by it. Then all would be well with the world and the nagging feeling that something was wrong would go away.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything. And for your information, my Aunt Flora's dead."

Amy was starting to sound crazy too yet she looked exactly like the woman he remembered. If pressed, he could draw every contour of her body and she fit the description exactly.

"The old gal isn't dead," Sheldon said. "She's turning 93 and you're forcing me to go to her birthday party."

"Listen, Sheldon, I don't know what you're up to," Amy said, and when Sheldon made to interject she cut him off, "but my Aunt Flora died when she was 87. That was before you and I even met. So no, I'm not forcing you to go to her birthday party because there is no birthday party."

Her voice was louder by the end and Sheldon had to resist the urge to run away from her as well. He did not like fighting. Fighting reminded him of his parents and his unhappy childhood.

"Yes you are. You're my girlfriend and you're forcing me to go to your Aunt Flora's birthday party even though I want to play _Star Wars_ the online game."

Amy took a deep breath. Sheldon wished she would force him to go to the birthday party. It would normalize the events to the way he remembered them and bring back his equilibrium.

"I don't know what any of this has to do with _Star Trek_ —"

"— _Wars_ —"

"—and I don't care. Penny tells me you are being obtuse, but it's been two damn years, Sheldon. I just want you to leave me alone."

"But I don't want to leave you alone," Sheldon whispered. The Amy before him was mad and yelling and he wanted to make her stop. He wanted her to be happy. With him. With the world. Bitterness did not suit her.

"Ironic, isn't it."

"Irony's not my strong suit," Sheldon said.

He watched as she took a deep inhale, the motion drawing attention to her ample bosom before he returned his expectant expression to her face.

"Whatever. For a man who spent our entire marriage refusing to pay attention to me you certainly are persistent in divorce."

"We're not married," Sheldon corrected. His memory was not that far gone to forget getting married.

Amy huffed. "On that one point we agree."

"We aren't divorced," Sheldon said. He knew his memories were true. Everyone else was wrong.

"Yes we are," Amy said. "We were divorced two years ago. Now will you please just leave me alone?"

He was not going to be chased away. Not a second time.

"No. We aren't married. We aren't divorced. You are my girlfriend and you are forcing me to go to your Aunt Flora's wedding."

That was the seventh time he repeated that exact same phrase yet still no one believed him. He was not crazy. His mother had him tested.

"Sit down," Amy commanded.

Sheldon sat down on the left side of the couch, his preferred spot, and waited expectantly as Amy retrieved a large volume from her bookshelf.

Sitting next to him, she opened the photo album and handed it to him.

Sheldon looked at the page, immediately committing it to memory. He was in the photo yet he had no recollection of the event. He was dressed up in a tux, looking very handsome if he did say so himself, holding hands with an equally radiant looking Amy Farrah Fowler in a white dress. There was an altar and flowers behind them and rows of chairs and gauze on both sides, one side holding his family members and friends and, though he had never met them, people who looked suspiciously like Amy's family. It was clearly a wedding ceremony. Underneath the picture was dated August 18, 2017.

Not believing the evidence before his eyes, he turned the page. It was a little bit further in the wedding ceremony. He and Amy were no longer gazing adoringly at each other but they were kissing, publicly. He kept turning pages, and in the ensuing pictures he found them in various stages of a wedding reception. They danced together. He danced with his mother while she danced with her father. He and Amy held hands with a circle of younger children, everyone smiling.

The evidence was there yet his memories were not and he trusted his brain above all else. Something was very, very wrong and though he could not think of an explanation, he knew the pictures had to be forged. They couldn't be real. He didn't remember the events they showed.

"These aren't real," Sheldon said. "You're lying to me. How could you lie to me, Amy?"

His heart racing, he did not know what to do. He could not go home because Leonard and Penny were there and he could not stay with Amy because she was on the same married and divorced bandwagon they were. She had evidence. Why she would conspire against him Sheldon did not know.

"I'm not lying to you," Amy said. "Look, I know theoretical physicists have a tendency to go crazy. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I said I'm fine." Sheldon shot up from the couch, the photo album clattering to the floor but he did not care. He made his escape.

Next he went to Howard's house to find his tertiary friend when his primary friends and girlfriend failed him.

"Sheldon," Howard said, though he did not seem surprised.

Sheldon looked around the house. It looked different and when he rang the doorbell he was not greeted by the klaxons of Mrs Wolowitz's yelling.

"Come in," Howard said and he followed the man inside, only to be confronted by Leonard, Penny, Bernadette, and Raj all sitting in the living room. His normal spot in the house was empty and he took it.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Penny says you're still making up nonsense about dating Amy," Bernadette said.

"We're worried about you," Raj said. That wasn't right. He was not drunk and there were girls in the room. His selective mutism meant he should not be able to speak.

"I am dating Amy," Sheldon said. No one believed him.

"No, Sheldon, Amy divorced you because you spent too much time ignoring her. She wasn't happy being married to you but God knows you aren't happy without her," Penny said.

Sheldon shook his head in denial. "No. Amy is my girlfriend. I'm happy. She's forcing me to go to her Aunt Flora's birthday party but I want to play _Star Wars_ the online game."

"Sheldon, how do I say this to you?" Howard mused. Then, a bit gleefully, he said, "You're wrong."

"I'm not wrong," Sheldon protested though with the group consensus against him it was less forceful than before.

"Yes you are, buddy," Leonard said.

"You ignored Amy on your date nights," Bernadette said.

"You never wanted to have sex with her," Penny said.

"You never went with her to family events," Raj said.

"You constantly insulted Amy's work," Howard said.

"And she finally got sick of it and divorced you," Leonard said.

"We know you were devastated by the divorce because you still love her," Bernadette said.

"And we know you miss her," Penny said.

"And we know your work's been at a dead end ever since she left you," Raj said.

"And we know you're unhappy and jealous now she's dating other men," Howard said.

"But we're worried about you," Leonard said.

"Well . . . I'm not," Howard said.

Was it just him or were the words his friends were saying coming faster and faster as an ambush. Not right. Everything was not right.

"Amy and I are not married. Amy and I are not divorced." Sheldon stood up again, using his height to try to intimidate them to stop lying to him. "Amy is my girlfriend and she is forcing me to go to her Aunt Flora's birthday part. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine . . ."

* * *

". . . I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Yes, Sheldon, I know you're fine. Actually, thank you for coming with me."

Sheldon stopped speaking and looked at Amy. She was sitting the the car looking exactly as she did before. He had his laptop in hand and his headphones around his neck.

"Where are we?" Sheldon asked.

"Don't be absurd. We are in my car and we are going to my Aunt Flora's birthday party," Amy said.

A wave of relief flooded over Sheldon. Whatever happened to him, whatever thoughts set him awry, they were gone. Everything was back to how it should be and that feeling in the pit of his stomach, that feeling something was wrong, was gone. His world was back on it's axis.

"Your Aunt Flora is dead," Sheldon said, just for confirmation.

Amy looked at him funnily. "I know she's turning 93 but that's a bit maudlin, don't you think?" Amy said.

She really was back. The version of Amy he knew and remembered was back.

"Let's go to your Aunt Flora's wedding," Sheldon said, now certain that he would be missing out on _Star Wars_ the online game in favor of going to a birthday party for a woman he did not know.

"Thank you, Sheldon, but if I may ask, what changed your mind?"

"You may and I just decided I should go with you." Sheldon hoped Amy would leave it at that and she did.

He did not want to tell her about his two very strange day dreams. In one he just won the Nobel Prize and attributed it to Amy. She was the person who helped him to be up on that stage. In the second he and Amy were divorced. It hurt for her to be distant with him and his career was at a dead end. It was an easy choice between two possibilities. Amy Farrah Fowler was the far better option, even if it did mean going to the old gal's birthday party.

Once there, Sheldon observed the room to solve his traveler's dilemma, calculating the most efficient route to take that would reach every single group of people with some variation allowed for mingling. Grabbing onto Amy's hand, he pulled her to the far left corner.

Amy greeted her relatives. She introduced him to her cousins. Sheldon sized them up, then placing his arm around Amy's waist, he said, "Hello. I'm Dr Sheldon Cooper. Amy is my girlfriend."

Task complete, Sheldon latched onto Amy's hand again and pulled her to the next group of people. There, Amy introduced him to two of her aunts and uncles. Placing his arm possessively around her waist again, he repeated, "Hello. I'm Dr Sheldon Cooper. Amy is my girlfriend."

To Amy's bewilderment, Sheldon completed the rounds in the room of nearly a hundred people in that fashion. He would grab her hand and direct her to people he had not yet met, listen politely while Amy introduced them, then hold her smaller body against his as he proudly told all the people Amy was his girlfriend. Grab. Listen. Hold. Speak. Repeat. Grab. Listen. Hold. Speak. Repeat. And so forth.

Sheldon took comfort in the repetition, and though he placed no stock in day dreams, for that is what the two odd visions must have been—he was not crazy—it would not hurt to be certain. If Amy felt ignored, he would show her off for all the world to see. There is no way she could feel ignored at present, nor could anyone mistake that she was his girlfriend.

Sheldon remembered the names of all the family and friends she introduced him to, including a couple she did not already know. The only break in his pattern occurred when he fulfilled his social obligation to wish Aunt Flora a happy birthday.

Whatever the reaction her family members had towards him, Sheldon did not stick around long enough to find out. Once they finally talked to every single person in the room, it was Amy's turn to lead Sheldon away from the chaos.

Looking up at him, she said, "Sheldon, not that I'm not appreciative and happy, but isn't your behavior a bit odd?"

"You're my girlfriend, Amy Farrah Fowler. You aren't supposed to think my behavior odd."

"You're holding my hand," Amy said.

Sheldon looked down at their interlocking hands. "I am," he agreed. There was no denying the contact.

"And that's it?" she asked. "You're not going to whine or complain or argue about it?"

"No," Sheldon said.

"You're not going to give me a lecture about germs."

Sheldon opened his mouth to start, but tempting as it was to enlighten her further on one of his favorite subjects, he opted with the much simpler. "No."

"Well alright," Amy said.

Sheldon thought she appeared pleased and was glad to make her happy. If he had his way it would be the first day dream, not the second, that was going to come true.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Amy asked hopefully.

Changed though he might be acting, he was not a hippie. Sheldon snorted. "Don't be absurd, Amy," he said.

A different girl would have been offended but they were Amy and Sheldon. Him coming to her family event voluntarily, introducing himself to everyone she knew—and didn't know—as his boyfriend, and voluntarily holding her hand without complaint. It was more progress than she would have expected. Truth be told, when he showed up in her car with her laptop she was almost certain she would be forced to go to the birthday party alone and then drink her troubles away with Penny later in the night because her boyfriend was an ass.

Instead, he made her happy. He cared. She liked the way he unlinked their hands to place his arm around her waist whenever they talked to people, a gesture that proclaimed to everyone that she was with him. She was not a loner who had to make up a boyfriend. She had a real boy in the flesh who cared about her and she about him. He was handsome and attractive and he made her desire things she never once before desired.

Amy might not have Sheldon whipped yet, but she was his hotsy-totsy from Glendale.


End file.
